


Intruder

by babywarg (morphaileffect)



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Grief/Mourning, Hurt Stephen Strange, M/M, Peter Parker is Trying His Best, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28280670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morphaileffect/pseuds/babywarg
Summary: Peter Parker is the only superhero with the reflexes and skill to bypass the New York Sanctum's defenses -Defenses that its master Stephen Strange had set up, to deter visitors while he grieves.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 20
Kudos: 94





	Intruder

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JeromeSankara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeromeSankara/gifts).



> Written for an Ironstrange Secret Santa event. Angst was requested, and angst was attempted. Merry Christmas! ♥♥♥
> 
> This is set in an AU where Tony and Stephen were together for years before the events of Infinity War. And it was kept fairly discreet (with both of them thinking matters of Earth’s safety and security were more worthy of public attention), but everybody knew.
> 
> Also presumes Peter’s parents and Uncle Ben have died, even if that isn’t explicitly stated in the movies.

The Sanctum’s magical barriers and booby traps were capable of deterring nearly all Earth-based threats.

“Nearly” being the operative word, in Peter Parker’s case.

He’d been in this situation before. He’d been sent to fetch Stephen at the Sanctum Sanctorum a few times, because the unique combination of his spider-sense and unique athletic skill were enough to let him bypass the Sanctum’s defenses.

The security measures changed every so often, like passwords that automatically re-scrambled themselves - but Peter had it in him to survive each and every challenge, every time.

And Stephen knew.

That was why he was waiting for Peter at the foyer, the end of the final obstacle course, with a mug of hot cocoa.

(The only intruder the Sanctum could afford to have at least deserved some hot cocoa.)

“Another emergency, is it?” Stephen calmly asked.

“Kind of,” Peter said as he caught his breath, reached out for the cocoa being offered to him. “I’ve been asked to contribute to our school paper. A short writeup about, err, um, the heroes I look up to.”

That was not an emergency at all.

Certainly not something that would merit the attention of the Master of the New York Sanctum...who had been busy, hiding away from all kinds of responsibility that were non-astral in nature, for months.

“You mean the Avengers you look up to.” Stephen knew as well as anyone that the Avengers were the only heroes any school cared about.

“Uh...nope, not, not just Avengers,” Peter hurried to say after a sip of cocoa. He sure caught his breath quickly. “Anybody. Even non-superheroes. So here, here I am, you know?”

When Peter stammered like that, it meant he was lying about something.

Tony had told him as much.

“There’s not a lot to write about me,” Stephen said, even if he was willing to bet there was no “paper” to write, in the first place. “At the very least, I can confidently say I can't be easily captured in writing.”

His standoffish tone of voice and glare subtly told Peter that he didn’t want to be bothered for something so trite.

He could _feel_ Peter subtly pushing back against his will, saying _No_.

“I-I know that,” Peter quickly said. “I-I guess I...well, I just wanted to check up on you, you know. Dr. Strange, sir.”

Stephen stared.

Then mirthlessly chuckled.

“Check up on me?” he huffed. Then he turned dismissively, began to walk away. “For what earthly reason - “

“I know you...you cared about him.”

Stephen stopped in his tracks.

The Cloak of Levitation billowed behind him and then fell very still, mirroring his movements.

 _“Take care of the kid,”_ Stephen suddenly remembered. _“Don’t let him be alone. He’ll need you in his life.”_

It was one of the last things Tony had said to him, before they went off to fight Thanos. Before -

\- before Tony took the only chance anyone had to save reality as they knew it.

 _“Are you serious?”_ he remembered asking Tony. _“The strongest boy in the world?”_

This was, after all, a kid who had powers that allowed him to bypass the Sanctum’s magical defenses, when few other creatures on earth could do so.

A kid who already carried the deaths of loved ones - his parents, a beloved uncle - on his young shoulders. Not to mention the responsibility that came with having superpowers: such things would weigh like five-ton wings on anyone’s back.

Peter had already proven he could carry it all.

 _“It may be true he’ll need someone, Tony,”_ he had said, tracing a finger gently down Tony’s jawline. _“But it won’t be me. I don’t have any strength to offer someone who can bench press five of me.”_

Tony had smiled at him. As he did during the many, many times they talked (and joked) about dying ahead of each other.

That was the one time - the only time - that such talk truly mattered.

 _“He’s not as strong as you might think,”_ Tony had softly corrected.

But Stephen couldn’t see that, looking at Peter now.

The boy was nervous. About being pushed away. About having to _fight_ being pushed away.

But he _was_ ready to fight.

Something that Stephen most definitely wasn’t.

He just wanted this exchange over with, and truth be told, he was _this close_ to just magicking the boy out of the building.

“See, Dr. Strange,” Peter kept on saying, “I, I can’t say I know what the two of you had...I only learned about you and Mr. Stark a year ago, and I think you were together for a while already, before I came along? So I really don’t know much, but I was thinking, if you loved somebody for a long time, and they suddenly - “

“Stop,” he said before he could stop himself. “Peter.”

The effort of restraining the anger in his voice made his left hand ball into a tight, shaking fist. Magic flowed into it without his bidding.

The Cloak of Levitation moved quickly and hid his left hand from Peter’s sight.

As it did so, a part of it folded around Stephen’s hand gently, almost lovingly, diffusing the battle magic within. And bringing Stephen back to his senses.

Was...

was he seriously going to hurt Peter?

For just _talking?_

“- and they suddenly...went away,” Peter continued - daunted, but unwilling to back down, “no amount of hiding away will dull the pain. It’ll just trap you in with memories of that person. That was what my Aunt May told me, anyway. We went to the water park after Uncle Ben...I mean...” He set the mug of cocoa in his hands onto the nearest stable surface, fidgeting all the while. “Do-do you maybe want to go some - ”

“I don’t want to go to a goddamn water park with you, Peter Parker,” Stephen said without turning. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to be left alone. Are you incapable of understanding something so obvious?”

The voice he used was his warning voice, infused with magic from the depths of an interdimensional hell. When Stephen used it, it echoed in the halls of the Sanctum, made the walls shake - even if it wasn’t raised, even if he barely spoke over a whisper.

It should have been enough to strike fear into any ordinary mortal heart.

“Should” being the operative word, in Peter Parker’s case...

Instead of recoiling, instead of apologizing, then backing the hell away and fleeing, like anyone else (including the brave and hardy Wong) would have done after hearing that voice...

Peter Parker stepped forward.

And breaking through the fear, the resistance, the boy threw his arms around Stephen, embracing him from behind.

Every fiber of Stephen’s being wanted to blast him away.

He felt the magic in his body pooling into a pit in his stomach, ready to do just that -

But the Cloak of Levitation - ever its own creature, independent of Stephen’s follies and whims - lay very still, allowed itself to remain stuck between Peter and Stephen.

That way, it became part of Peter’s sudden gesture. And that way, Stephen couldn’t lose himself, not completely.

He was trapped in the embrace of a relic that, for some reason, loved him.

And the trembling, unbreakable embrace of a boy whom, for some reason, Tony loved.

The strongest boy in the world.

“See, the very last thing Mr. Stark told me was,” Peter said faintly. “ ‘Take care of Dr. Strange. Don’t let him be alone. He’s going to need you.’ ”

 _And he’s not as strong as you might think_ , Tony’s voice finished in Stephen's head.

There were ways upon ways Stephen could have broken free of that embrace. Nothing was impossible to a Master of the Mystic Arts, of his level.

Except bringing back the dead.

Except turning back time and saving someone he loved for the most selfish of reasons:

There were times when he felt his happiness was worth more than the universe.

Suddenly Stephen was wracked with guilt.

Guilt for wanting the impossible. For being unable to prevent the inevitable. For not being strong enough to stop hiding. For behaving terribly toward someone whom Tony loved - someone who channeled Tony’s concern for him, even after Tony was gone.

And all other emotions welled up to join that guilt. Anger, grief, gratitude, regret and love, came together to mercilessly immobilize him.

Suddenly, tears filled Stephen’s eyes, and he lost all strength to break free of anything, to push anything away.


End file.
